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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885291">The Meeting (an offering to the Bourbon &amp; Aspirin Universe and the Cabal)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aussiefan70/pseuds/Aussiefan70'>Aussiefan70</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCIS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bourbon &amp; Aspirin Universe, Cabal Update, I may have lost my mind, MIA Author aka GeminiAngel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:21:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,853</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aussiefan70/pseuds/Aussiefan70</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Zuma is worried and calls an important meeting!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Meeting (an offering to the Bourbon &amp; Aspirin Universe and the Cabal)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/geminiangel/gifts">geminiangel</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I hope geminiangel doesn't kill me for this, but boy, I had a blast!  I guess I'll just say I was following Gibbs' Rule 18.</p><p>If you've never read geminiangel's Bourbon &amp; Aspirin Universe series, its great fun.  Check it out!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Part 1<br/>
Gibbs was down in the basement, sanding away at a new dresser he was building for the twins.  Between Tony and their doting family, they’d already jammed the closet more full than he’d ever thought possible, with all their clothes.  And forget toy storage, that was the next project!</p><p>As Tony wandered down the stairs, announcing that the babies were finally down for the night, Jack (who felt Jethro needed his expert woodwork supervision) posed a question.</p><p>“Is it just me, or do all the days seem the same lately.  It doesn’t seem like there’s anything new going on, and I don’t mean because things are slowed down because of the pandemic.  It just seems….all the same”.</p><p>Gibbs scoffed gently, “I don’t know Dad, it seems plenty busy at NCIS.  We’ve always got cases to work on”.</p><p>“But Jack’s right Jethro, there’s nothing new.  Its like all the suspects are reading off the same (and really old) playbooks”, Tony responded, never one to pass up a good sporting analogy.</p><p>“Hmm, or maybe its a 2020 verison of Groundhog Day, you know the one where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again?”, Tony asked, not being able to resist a movie reference either.</p><p>SLAP!  A (more gentle than it sounded) cupped hand collided with the back of Tony’s head, as Gibbs demonstrated his views on his husband’s musings.</p><p>“Hey son, enough of the spousal abuse!” Jack demanded, “And I think Tony’s on to something here.  It does kind of feel like we’ve been stuck in limbo for a while now.  We’re overdue for something new and challenging.  You know me, I’m not really one for sitting around and waiting for life to happen - though I don’t think I’ll put climbing Everest for the second time into my future plans”.</p><p>Jethro just groaned. Now his Dad and his husband were confabulating conspiracy theories...and working outlandish movie plots into everyday life as well.</p><p>Meanwhile, Zuma sat quietly observing on his rug in the corner.  He knew he’d have to do something. The humans were starting to notice what was going on!</p><p>~*~B&amp;A~*~B&amp;A~*~B&amp;A~*~</p><p>Part 2<br/>
Tap, tap, tap.  Kiwi, using a fork and a glass to get the attention of the crowd, called the meeting to order.  Being the last to arrive, he’d been “volunteered” for the chair position, much to his dismay.</p><p>“Welcome everyone to the emergency meeting of the Interspecies Alliance.  Please settle down, we have important matters to discuss, and we neeed everyone’s attention”, he began.</p><p>Sinatra raised a hoof and asked “Will there be hooficures available after this meeting?  Only I can’t get hold of any cabal members to fix the chips in my polish...and that is a much more dire emergency than anything you could come up with!”  </p><p>Kiwi contemplated banging his head on the table in front of him, as he told the lamb to sit down and stay silent.  “There’s much more critical things to discuss than the state of your hooficure!”</p><p>The owls hooted in approval at Sinatra being put in his place, while Kudzu inspected his own hooficure just in case he also needed a touch up.</p><p>“Okay, are we calm now?  This really is important and I’m going to turn over the meeting to our undercover operative and NCIS Liaison Agent Zuma.  Take it away Zuma”.</p><p>Coming to the front of the room, Agent Zuma started “I know I don’t usually attend these meetings as its hard to get away from my family without casting suspicion.  Between Mommy and Daddy, not to mention Grandpa Jack and the babies, its hard for a pup to find a moment to himself, let alone get to Alliance gatherings”.</p><p>At the sound of Kiwi clearing his throat, Zuma continued “Nevertheless, I have to report that we have an emergency situation that is starting to rear its head in the Gibbs household.  They’ve begun to realise that there’s nothing new going on!  Our home life is pretty much routine these days (though you’ll be pleased to know the twins are sleeping through the night now), and even the cases at the office seem like repeats of cases they’ve seen before”.</p><p>Apart from a gentle murmur of appreciation for a good night’s sleep, the Alliance members waited for more.</p><p>Zuma continued “I think if this continues, they might realise the idiot, ahem writer, is MIA!  And then what will happen?  They’ll start going off script and who knows how that will turn out?  I don’t think we can rely on a pandemic to cover up the lack of the idi….oops writer’s new material”.</p><p>That did get everyone’s attention, sparking a general chorus of alarm and questions of what to do. 
 Kiwi tapped on the glass again, calling “Order, order!”, though without much success.</p><p>Finally Kudzu, having found the air horn, put a hoof on the bulb and pressed down, letting out a loud “Ooo-ahhhh” sound.  The Alliance members started to settle down and looked to Kiwi for guidance on what to do next.</p><p>“Ok, so we know the idiot (shh, Sinatra, we might as well call her what she is) is either MIA, or her muse is.  Has anyone heard anything from the Cabal?  We’ll even take wild and unsubstantiated rumours at this point”.  </p><p>Despite a number of increasingly bizarre offerings, including alien abduction, a writer on the run from IRS troubles (sadly believable) and one that suggested she’d joined a roving pole dancing troupe, there were no actual concrete ideas or even slightly substantiated rumours from the group.</p><p>Kiwi corralled the group back under control again.  </p><p>“All right everyone, here’s what we must do.  Agent Zuma, please remain undercover and report back any further developments as they occur.  Can we ask for a volunteer from the owls to take up temporary residence in the Gibbs backyard, to be able to relay timely messages from Zuma to the Alliance?  Ahh, thank you Hedwing.  I appreciate your assistance. Still hiding out from Voldemort I see”.</p><p>Kiwi further deputised the Alliance members to sound out a cabal member or two each, to see if they had any ideas of where the idiot had gotten to, or gotten up to for that matter.  </p><p>“Lets meet again at this time next week and we’ll determine a course of action from there.  It maybe that we will have to schedule a joint session with the Cabal, to decide how to proceed further.  Agent Zuma, please send an update with Hedwig if you’re unable to attend.  Very well, I call this meeting closed. See you next week”.</p><p>~*~B&amp;A~*~B&amp;A~*~B&amp;A~*~</p><p>Part 3<br/>
One week later Kiwi arrived 30 minutes early for the meeting, hoping to avoid being chair-koala again, and found the sneaky Alliance members had been colluding and gathered 45 minutes early, to ensure they got out of the job as well.  Resigned to his fate, he called the meeting to order once again.</p><p>“Welcome back everyone.  It appears we have some updates from the group and we need to make some decisions on how to proceed further.  Agent Zuma was unable to get out of a trip to the park with the twins and Grandpa Jack, so Hedwig, please share any news from the Gibbs household”.</p><p>From her perch, Hedwig reported that there had been some ongoing discussion of the sameness of every day life, but it had not progressed to outright suspicions that they were characters in the B&amp;A ‘verse with an absentee writer.</p><p>Somewhat relieved, Kiwi asked if the Cabal members had been able to provide any insights.  Most responded that the Cabal seemed largely as bewildered as the Gibbs and the Alliance as to the location of the idi...writer or her muse.  But there were some hints as to what was going on.</p><p>Kudzu volunteered, “I spoke to several members, who’d heard a rumour that our beloved idiot was unwell and hadn’t been writing much lately. Though there was one work published, unrelated to this ‘verse, that they rather enjoyed”.</p><p>Sinatra then piped up, unable to resist being the one to tell all!</p><p>“I spoke with several members, who shall remain nameless to protect my sources”; this was accompanied by boos for the lamb’s grandstanding behaviour. </p><p>“Ahem, well if you don’t want to know…..” Sinatra paused for further dramatic effect, to more boos.</p><p>“Alright then, from messages on Facebook, yes our beloved idiot has been very unwell and is currently getting a lot of intensive therapy in a rehabilitation facility.  It’s been hard work apparently but she’s slowly on the mend, though it might be quite a while before she’s back at the computer writing”.  There were sounds of concern from the Alliance, particularly given the events in the world.  Sinatra was quick to reassure them that their beloved idiot hadn’t gotten ill from drinking Mexican beer with lime wedges, to groans from the others about bad 2020 jokes. </p><p>“Very well then, we know what’s going on”, Kiwi exclaimed.  “So what do we do now?  Gibbs and Tony are trained investigators; they’re going to figure this out!  We can’t let them start going solo with the B&amp;A series….who knows where they will take it!”</p><p>The room fell silent as they all pondered that dilemma.  Nobody seemed to have any bright ideas and the unsettled feeling grew palpably stronger.  Suddenly Agent Zuma popped up, having been able to make a quick escape from the house while the family was settling down the babies for their after park nap.  “I have an idea!”</p><p>All eyes turned in his direction and Kiwi yielded the floor to the pup.  “Grandpa Jack, myself and some of the Cabal members could start a writing group to act as ghost writers for the idi….writer.  I bet he’d love the challenge, and he knows how to keep a secret.  I'm sure we could trust him with the news about the B&amp;A ‘verse.  He seems to be so bored being stuck at home, and he is very good at weaseling information out of Daddy and Mommy.  He’d be a great source for stories about our home life and the babes.  I can add my observations from at work and home as well, given I’m officially a member of the MCRT now. We just need a couple of Cabal members to help us get them written up and published to AO3.  I bet we could keep the fans happy until the idiot is back on her feet.  We might even gain a few more Cabal members in the process!”</p><p>Zuma’s suggestion was met with general acclaim.  Kiwi called for the vote “All in favour of facilitating a ghost writers group while the idiot is incapacitated, say Aye”.  It was a unanimous decision, and several members volunteered to act as liaisons to help with the flow of information.  Kiwi closed the meeting with a last tap of the glass and sat back, relieved to have averted a crisis.  Only to hear one last plaintive cry from Sinatra, “But what about my hooficure?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Forgive the subterfuge, but lets send some love to geminiangel, our beloved idi...oops writer and wish her a speedy recovery.  The last time I tried this I got a warning from AO3, so I bribed the Interspecies Alliance into helping out with a hopefully amusing story, and an idiot update.  Any Cabal members available for hooficure duty to help pay the bribes, please sign up below!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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